Former Morris County man draws six years in prison for exporting U.S. military secrets to China

A federal judge on Monday sentenced a Chinese citizen to nearly six years in prison for exporting U.S. military technology to the People’s Republic of China and stealing trade secrets that he had obtained through his position at a New Jersey-based defense contracting firm.

Rejecting a plea for leniency, U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler imposed a 70-month sentence and a $15,000 fine on Sixing “Steve” Liu, 49, formerly of Flanders in Morris County, saying the punishment hopefully will deter others from trying to take highly sensitive data out of the country.

“The court has heard Dr. Liu indicate that he did not intend to harm this country and his conduct was a mistake, and the suggestion was because of cultural differences,” Chesler said. “The problem is Dr. Liu was repeatedly on notice just how sensitive the material he had was,” and despite having received training on arms export laws he downloaded files onto his computer and “misrepresented where he was going when he left the country,” the judge said.

A jury in September found Liu, an engineer who has lived in the United States for 19 years, guilty of nine counts, including exporting defense-related technical data without a license, possessing stolen trade secrets, transporting stolen property and lying to federal agents. He has been in custody since the verdict.

Liu formerly worked as a senior staff engineer for the Space & Navigation Division of L-3 Communications, an aerospace and military technology provider. The division moved its headquarters to Budd Lake, Morris County from Teterboro in 2003, according to its website.

In a rambling speech that was interrupted three times by his lawyer, Liu, shackled and wearing a green prison jumpsuit, said the case against him was politically motivated, that he was in this predicament because of miscommunication and misunderstanding, and that he made mistakes but didn’t commit a crime.

His lawyer, James D. Tunick of Chicago, said Liu, whose three children are U.S. citizens, never intended to jeopardize national security.

“He’s lost everything: his freedom, his job, his family,” said Tunick, noting Liu will be deported when he gets out of prison. He asked the judge to impose a one-year sentence.

The government charged he stole the files to position himself for future employment in China and that as part of his plan, Liu delivered presentations about the technology at several Chinese universities, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and conferences organized by government entities.

“Instead of the accolades he sought from China, Sixing Liu today received the appropriate reward for his threat to our national security: seventy months in prison,” U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said in a statement.

“As an innovation leader, the United States is a target for those seeking to cut corners at the expense of American businesses and consumers,” Fishman said. “As this sentence shows, the Department of Justice is making great progress in the fight against trade-secret theft in order to protect the engines of our nation’s economic recovery.”